A British man who travelled to America to have sex with young boys has been jailed for 13 years in the US after admitting taking child pornography into the country.

Paul Charles Wilkins, 70, was caught after he made arrangements with undercover agents to have sex with a nine-year-old boy in California.

The pensioner from Littleport, Cambridgeshire, had attempted to meet two other boys aged 10 and 12, but he was arrested in February last year when his plan collapsed.

Prosecutors said Wilkins ran an online group used by paedophiles and “persistently engaged in the sexual exploitation of children” before he went to the US in January 2016.

He was initially charged with travelling with the intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct and attempted sex trafficking of children, transporting child pornography and possession of child pornography.

Under a plea bargain he admitted he had travelled to the US with the intention of having sex with two young brothers.

He sought out another young boy when the plan fell apart and arranged to pay the youngster 250 dollars (£200) at a flat he had rented in the Coachella Valley.

In reality the meeting was a sting by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Under the deal with prosecutors he pleaded guilty to one charge of transporting child pornography from the UK to the US, including graphic sexual images of boys between the ages of five and eight.

Wilkins was sentenced to 13 years in federal prison and a 25,000 dollar (£20,000) fine at a court in Los Angeles on Wednesday.

A judge ordered that he stays under supervision for the rest of his life.

United States Attorney Eileen Decker said Wilkins had “persistently engaged in the sexual exploitation of children”.

She said: “He was the administrator of an online group used by men to discuss their sexual interest in children, he travelled to the United States to have sex with two young boys, and he made arrangements with undercover agents to have sex with another young boy.